What is Elastos (ELA)?

Elastos (ELA) is an internet operating system. In fact, it is the first open source blockchain-based internet operating system.

Rong Chen and Sunny Feng Han founded the Elastos foundation with the idea of creating an internet operating system that runs on the blockchain.

The project will also enable people to own digital assets on the blockchain. They will also be able to generate wealth from the same.

The main idea of Elastos is that the networking layer should be separate from the application layer.

Elastos will be the base-layer, and the applications will run on the cloud. In this case, ELA acts as the infrastructure while the applications will be running on side chains. This way, you can prevent virus and malware attacks on the blockchain, i.e., the base layer.

The foundation has received a sponsorship of more than 200 million RMD from the Foxconn group and other industry giants. This funding will be used for research and development. It is to be noted that the project has been in the works for about 17 years which is crazy.

Why Do We Need Elastos (ELA)?

Let’s think of a practical scenario.

Let’s say I have two social media accounts, three banking accounts, and two home security accounts. All seven of these applications act separately, and all of them are susceptible to attacks from hackers. This means that I have seven applications that can potentially be hacked.

But with Elastos, all seven of these applications will run as usual, but they will run on the side chain. With Elastos as the base-layer, the hackers can’t attack the applications. They have to attack the base-layer which is super protected with excellent security.

Which one of the two scenarios would you prefer? Of course, the answer is number two which is a no-brainer.

Also, with Elastos, you can own your digital assets and will be able to generate wealth from them by selling them or letting them grow in price over price.

Right now, you can establish your ownership of an asset on the blockchain. But that does not mean someone else won’t steal it from you. With digital asset ownership in Elastos, you are the only one who holds it.

If there are a 100 digital assets available, only a 100 of those will exist at a time. Its value will increase over time depending on the demand. If you are lucky, you can sell one of it at a later date for a pretty good profit.

This blockchain can make us use a new internet where we can use applications without the fear of malware attacks. Elastos also allows us to have digital assets for which you, the owner, can decide the price.

Elastos (ELA) Blockchain Structure

The Elastos blockchain structure is made up of main chains and side chains.

The main chain is mainly for executing simple transactions and processing payments. The side chain, on the other hand, will handle the smart contracts that make the applications and services.

This structure allows us to get both scalability (the main chain does not do anything intensive) and security (applications run separately from the main chain).

For the users to use the applications, they need a place where they can safely store all your personal data. The Elastos blockchain is that secure container. The use of main chains and side chains facilitate decentralization and also provide excellent security.

The blockchain also provides inbuilt and easy to use support for side chains. As a result, any application can quickly create their sidechains and operate separately from the base layer as intended.

Why is this structure necessary?

If you build an application on the blockchain, it will have less computing power than a regular computer. We know that popular internet applications like Facebook and Netflix need a lot of computing power. Even if your app is small in the beginning, it will face serious challenges when it needs to scale.

The ELA team has made it very clear that they do not believe in running applications on the main blockchain.

The purpose of the main chain is to run simple computations and to facilitate the trading of ELA. Though it looks simple, it is a vital role in the blockchain.

They also don’t want to congest the main chain with smart contracts which is why side chains will handle them in ELA. With this sidechain setup, we can have all the scalability we need.

So in order achieve both a robust and a scaleable blockchain, Elastos has gone with the main chain and a sidechain approach.

Elastos (ELA) vs. Ethereum (ETH)

Ethereum uses a single main chain structure, and because of this, there is an upper limit to the computational power and scalability. Data transaction speeds are limited as there is a bottleneck with the individual node in the chain, even though there are thousands of computational nodes.

Elastos intends to adopt an adjustable main chain and side chain design structure. The main chain only takes care of simple transactions and payments while the side chain performs smart contracts to support multiple services and apps.

Ethereum also has a problem of data redundancy. Ethereum also had some severe network congestion when it tried to scale. In the case of Elastos, apps run on the Elastos runtime and not on the blockchain itself. This method provides more security than the traditional setup in Ethereum.

Elastos runtime can take multiple forms namely an independent operating system, a VM (Virtual machine), or even an SDK (Software development kit). All of these forms can integrate seamlessly with the applications of other operating systems. Ethereum can’t do any of this yet.

Ethereum also comes with a data exposure risk. Elastos does not allow the decentralized applications (dApps) to interact with the main chain. This prevents the occurrence of DDoS attacks, and so the data are safe. There is also no need for IP addresses which also gives another layer of security.

How is ELA coin used?

Decentralized applications will use ELA to pay for services they use. Some of the services include getting UUIDs for digital assets, registering domain names, search engines, attaining page rankings, etc. The dApps will use ELA which recedes for bandwidth and IPFS.

The collaboration projects in the Elastos ecosystem have to lock around 2% to 5% of their tokens which are later to be converted into ELA. 20% of those converted tokens will be used for the development of the Elastos foundation while the remaining is distributed as rewards to all ELA holders.

For example, let assume there is a decentralized app that creates 10 Billion tokens. A minimum of 200 million should be exchanged into ELA. Out of this 200 million, 20%, i.e., 40 million will be used for the development of the Elastos foundation. The remaining 160 million will be distributed to ELA holders as rewards.

Users can also use ELA in many ways. They can use it to register an ID in the blockchain. Users then can use this ID to acquire items like dApps, cloud storage, digital products and other assets.

There was also a lock-in program which ended recently. Users can contribute a minimum of 300 ELA, and they will earn an interest of 4, 5% and 6% for 1, 2 and 3 years respectively. Do note that the rates are not compounded.

You can also participate in future token sales on the Elastos platform by using ELA as well.

Elastos (ELA) Partnerships

Elastos has several exciting partnerships on board. These are not simple partnerships but will help Elastos in a very good way.

Let’s take a look at some of the key partnerships.

NEO

How can a solid cryptocurrency like NEO partner up with relatively newer crypto like Elastos?

One of the most common misconceptions is that Elastos is an NEP-5 token and is being built on the NEO platform. Neither of it is true. Elastos has its own blockchain, and its main net went live way back in December of 2017.

Da Hongfei, CEO of NEO, and Jihan Wu of Bitmain are early investors in the Elastos platform. Bitmain has committed to redirecting some of the hashing power from BTC mining to ELA.

G3 is the name of the collaboration between Elastos, NEO, and Bitmain and they bestow a vision of a decentralized, smart web.

The key aspects of their smart web include a virtual machine, trust zone and runtime environments. All three will be provided by Elastos and Bitmain. NEO provides the consensus while Ontology provides the KYC. G3 is to cooperate with the Chinese government regulations.

With a solid team, the partnership’s future in the Chinese crypto space is pretty solid.

Foxconn

Foxconn is a manufacturing giant headquartered in Tucheng, New Taipei, Taiwan.

They are easily the world’s largest electronics manufacturer, and they have sponsored Elastos with over 200 million RMB for research and development.

Zapya

Zapya is a cross-platform P2P file sharing application. It can be found on Android, iOS, Windows phone, Windows, etc.

Zapya is also one of the top-ranked applications among similar category apps. The app allows the users in countries with poor internet infrastructure to share files among themselves. This is done by using a Wi-Fi hotspot to which others can connect.

Zapya has agreed to build a decentralized application on top of Elastos called ViewChain (more on that later).

There are many other partnerships that deserve an article on their own. At this moment, we can say that Elastos has gained some fantastic partnerships and if things go as planned, they should get a good amount of adoption right off the bat.

dApps on Elastos (ELA)

Let’s take a look at some of the decentralized applications that are built on the platform.

Trust Credit Power(TCP)

Trust Credit Power is to establish the consensus and trust for participants. By this, they plan to set up a credit system through the blockchain technology. It can be used to empower both businesses and common people.

House renting will be the first industry application scenario for Trust Credit Power, and the aim is to create a trustworthy environment for people’s fundamental needs – living.

Trust Credit Power works with 300 rental property companies and has over 120,000 properties under its management. The rental business is growing fast, thanks to more people moving into the city. With 40,000 smart routers, they have had a pretty good start.

Viewchain

ViewChain is a decentralized application for content distribution. Zapya has a large user base in developing countries, and ViewChain utilizes it to increase storage of content, to track copyrights and to provide content access.

ViewChain also uses the blockchain and IPFS and plans to revolutionize the way we share out content. You will also be able to create your own content on the dApp which you can share with others as well.

Reactor

Reactor Independent Game Guild(RIGG) is a decentralized game distribution platform for both Windows and Mobile phones.

RIGG will use the blockchain technology to enable players and independent developers to directly participate in the distribution of game content without the need for a third party.

RIGG will also take game copyrights and equipment buying into a new era of the digital gaming market by entirely shielding digital content rights.

In the near future, RIGG will also utilize a lightweight VM from Elastos open source code. The virtual machine will be used as a security sandbox for apps to safely decrypt and load games, verify permissions, and deter tampering and cheating in games.

Panda Green Energy Exchange

Panda Green Energy is an ecosystem solution provider based in Hong Kong. The idea is to create an exchange that can be used as a clean energy trading platform.

Elastos will provide a solution that is blockchain-based to Panda Green Energy.

This energy blockchain project will concentrate on both generating electricity and be consuming it. It will utilize the advantages of blockchain technology, decentralization, and traceability, to give clean energy for targeted populations.

The users will be rewarded for consuming clean energy or for using electric cars. You can then use your rewards to pay your utility bills or even for Uber

These are some of the applications that are being developed on the Elastos ecosystem.

Where to Buy Elastos (ELA)?

Elastos can be bought only on two exchanges: Huobi and BCEX.

Neither of the exchanges gives you the option to buy with fiat currencies. Right now, you can only buy Elastos with other cryptocurrencies.

Huobi has three trading pairs: ELA/BTC, ELA/USDT, and ELA/ETH. This means you can buy ELA with Bitcoin, USD tether, and Ethereum.

BCEX has only ELA/BTC pair which means you can only buy with Bitcoins.

Currently, there are no other exchanges that offer Elastos. If you see anyone posting any other exchange, then it is most likely a scam. Please do your research before getting cryptocurrencies from unverified sources.

Best Elastos (ELA) Wallet

The official Elastos wallet is the only wallet that can be used to store your coins and it goes without saying that it is currently the best Elastos (ELA) wallet as well.

Let’s see how to get your own wallet.

First, go to the website: https://wallet.elastos.org

Click the ‘Get Started’ button, and you will be given a couple of flash screen which you can skip if you want.

Once you click the ‘create ELA wallet’ button, your wallet will be created.

On this screen, enter your email id and then click ‘continue.’ Now you have to create the backup wallet. Click ‘Backup wallet’ and go to the next screen.

Here you are given a passphrase. Note it down on a piece of paper and keep it safe. Once you have written it down, click ‘I’ve written it down’ and go on to the next screen.

On the next screen, you will be asked to verify your passphrase. After you complete it, you are asked to enter a spending password. This can not be recovered so remember it carefully. After this step, wallet creation is complete.

You can use this wallet to send and receive Elastos.

Warning: Do not send your ELA coins to MyEtherWallet or Neon wallet. Elastos has its own blockchain, and its coins can’t be stored in other wallets.